Thanks from the report from your part of the world, PartlyCloudy. There is some cold comfort in knowing I'm not alone in my responses to this evac. And coming on top of the all the other things that made my life topsy-turvy, unsettled and unsettling in the past year, can't be good.

New Orleans was flooded with Florida refugess on Labor Day weekend -- don't remember which 'cane was enroute at that time. I met a Florida Panhandle evacuee in Austin. She said she was ready to leave after 2 years. We're gettin too old to have to pick up and pack, load and unload - and what will happen in not so many years when we are less able than we are now? Austin is oppressively hot -- so she was pondering, which is worst? Earthquakes in Calif, where she'd lived for many years; storms in Fl, or the heat of Texas. I also learned that the temps go down to the 40s in winter. I haven't spent a cold winter in a long time. Made me start thinking about going back to Florida and accepting that my life situation means that I have to live in a dinky apartment instead of a nice home of my own. Somehow it's easier to accept my straightened circumstances in a place where I don't have it constantly in my face that my life used to be different -- more materially comfortable.

I didn't make it to the meet and greet. Took a shower -- and a benydryl -- and my sleep meds very early -- and still couldn't get to sleep til after 3:30 a.m. I hate this restlessness in the night.

Thanks, all, for the words of comfort. It helps.